RIO FERDINAND is willing to offer his services to Sam Allardyce in the belief that the FA should be grooming the new England manager’s eventual replacement from the start.

The former Manchester United star made no secret of his own ambitions to manage England and revealed he spoke to FA chief executive Martin Glenn before Allardyce’s appointment was confirmed.

“I’ve spoken to him, he knows my feelings,” he said. “I’ve been quite open that I’d love to be involved with England at some stage, whether it’s now or in the future.

“I think that they obviously had the idea they definitely wanted to go with an English guy. And you have to respect that. We’ve gone with foreign guys and it hasn’t worked and paid them a lot of money.

“But if you throw the names in the hat of who were the candidates, you had Allardyce, Bruce, Pardew and Eddie Howe...

Rio Ferdinand's England career

A selection of Rio Ferdinand pictures

Rio Ferdinand with his leg in plaster at England's World Cup 2010 training camp

“Surely he was someone they might have been looking to groom. Where is he now? Is he going to be involved anymore? Or is he a castaway?

“Would I be interested in that role? Yeah, I would yeah.

“When football jobs like that become available you would like to think that you get the opportunity to do that. But nothing is ever given to you on a plate. It’s timing sometimes, the right relationships, the right people involved.

“But I do think that it’s about preparing someone to come into that role at some point rather than being reactive all the time. We’re always reacting and that’s why we’re always behind.”

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